Thursday, April 17, 2008

There are plenty of catchy tunes out there--lots of great songwriters and I'll probably tackle a list of my favorites there in the future but today I'm giving a nod to the songs whose lyrics are just too fun not to sing along with.

I've combed through my play lists for my favorites but feel free to add any of your own tongue-twisters--all I ask is that you quote them correctly. Easier said than done, right?

1. I Am the Walrus by John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1967 (d'uh). Actually it wasn't written by both Beatles, it was written by Lennon but credit was given to Paul for some reason.

Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye.Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess,Boy, you been a naughty girl and you let your Knickers down.I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus,goo goo g'joob . . .

Expert texpert choking smokers,Don't you think the joker laughs at you?See how they smile like pigs in a sty, see how they snide.I'm crying.

Semolina Pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower.Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna.Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe.I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus,goo goo g'joob

And plenty more terrific lines. Actually, I could fill this whole list with Beatles songs--how about this beauty from Maxwell's Silver Hammer? "Joan was quizzical, studied metaphysical, science in the home . . . Maxwell Edison, majoring in medicine, calls her on the phone . . ." but I had a hard time including a song where the main character goes on a killing spree with his hammer. This IS a family-friendly blog you know.

2. Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by Jimmy Kennedy 1953. I like the remake that They Might Be Giants did of this tune but whoever is singing the lyrics are hypnotic:

Istanbul was ConstantinopleNow it's Instanbul, not ConstantinopleBeen a long time gone, Constantinople,Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night.

Tell me you're not singing along.

3. Southern Cross by Crosby, Stills and Nash 1982.

Got out of town on a boat goin' to Southern islands. Sailing a reach before a followin' sea.She was makin' for the trades on the outside, and the downhill run to Papeete.Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas. We got eighty feet of the waterline. Nicely making way. In a noisy bar in Avalon I tried to call you.But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away

I LOVE this song. I think it's because it's about sailing and the ocean--I would have included Billy Joel's Downeaster Alexa and Sting's Why Should I Cry? in the list but this isn't a list about ocean songs now is it? Ah, someday I'm going to build a sailboat and sail around the world. Twice.

4. Rapture by Blondie 1981. I'm really including this as a tribute to Grace, my teen daughter who's recently discovered 80s classics. I had to laugh though, I caught her singing along with it:And out comes a man from MarsAnd you try to run but he's got a gunAnd he shoots you dead and he eats your headAnd then you're in the man from MarsYou go out at night, eatin' carsYou eat Cadillacs, Lincolns tooMercuries and Subarus . . .

But instead of saying "Subarus" she said "Chevroloos." As in "Chevrolets" only "ChevroLOOS." After I stopped laughing I asked her what Chevroloos were and she sheepishly said she didn't know but that it somehow rhymed. Ha! I guess Chevroloo isn't any weirder than Subaru if you think about it.

5. The Codfish Ball by who-knows-who. You'll laugh at me over this but the only reason I'm including it is because it was part of a Shirley Temple movie I watched when I was young and Shirley does this cute little dance to the tune and the words are just as adorable as she is. The kind that stick with even 30 years later apparently. Hey, I'm just delivering some variety, okay?

Lobsters dancing in a row shuffle off to buffaloJelly fish sway to and fro at the Codfish ballFinn-an-haddie leads the eel through an Irish reelThe Catfish is a dancing man but he can't can-can like a sardine can

6. Girlfriend in a Coma by The Smiths, 1987. The only way to balance the sugary-sweetness of Shirley is to follow it up with the eye-gouging acidity of The Smiths. It was a toss up as to which song of theirs I would include--they have so many light-hearted little ditties--There Is a Light is another of their lovely songs that I find myself singing periodically.

Girlfriend in a coma, I know I know - its seriousGirlfriend in a coma, I know I know - its really serious

OR:

And if a double-decker bus crashes into usTo die by your side is such a heavenly way to dieAnd if a ten-ton truck kills the both of usTo die by your side well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine

Yes, either little tune is a beauty and better than Prozac for what ails you.

7. Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover by Paul Simon, 1975. Or, as they joked on the Muppet Show, perhaps it is Fifty Ways to Love Your Leaver? Whichever way you sing it the words are classic, I love the unique drum beat and the catchy words:She said it's really not my habit to intrudeFurthermore, I hope my meaning won't be lost or misconstruedBut I'll repeat myself, at the risk of being crudeThere must be fifty ways to leave your loverFifty ways to leave your lover

You just slip out the back, JackMake a new plan, StanYou don't need to be coy, RoyJust get yourself freeHop on the bus, GusYou don't need to discuss muchJust drop off the key, LeeAnd get yourself free

It's one of the songs Mom used to sing around the house every once in a while--she has quite a repertoire you know. Yea, we're an odd family.

8. Big Rock Candy Mountain by Harry McClintock 1928. A hobo ballad that sings of the longing for utopia as only a hobo could create it:

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains you never change your socksAnd the little streams of alcohol come a-trickling down the rocksThe brakemen have to tip their hats and the railroad bulls are blindThere's a lake of stew and of whiskey tooYou can paddle all around 'em in a big canoeIn the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains the jails are made of tinAnd you can walk right out again as soon as you are inThere ain't no short handled shovels, no axes saws or picksI'm a goin to stay where you sleep all dayWhere they hung the jerk that invented workIn the Big Rock Candy Mountains

Because we need more songs about free-flowing alcohol, laziness and poor personal hygiene. Well, after songs about girlfriends in comas who am I to criticize?

9. Anything from The Music Man, 1962. Meredith Wilson's musical has the funniest dialog ever in a musical--and though that's not saying much it's still a crack-up. My favorite line? When Mrs. Shin is ranting about smutty literature and--speaking of Omar Khayyam says, "Omar Khy-yi-yi-yi-I am appalled!" Cracks me up every time.

Anyway, the songs have the cleverest lyrics--Rock Island, Trouble, The Sadder but Wiser Girl, Pick a Little Talk a Little, Gary, Indiana, and of course Marion the Librarian all roll like taffy on the tongue.

Gary, Indiana, Gary Indiana, Gary, Indiana,Let me say it once again.Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana,That's the town that "knew me when."If you'd like to have a logical explanationHow I happened on this elegant syncopation,I will say without a moment of hesitationThere is just one place that can light my face.Gary, Indiana, Gary Indiana,Not Louisiana, Paris, France, New York, or Rome, but--Gary, Indiana,Gary, Indiana, Gary Indiana, my home sweet home.

10. It's the End of the World As We Know It by R.E.M. 1987. I would quote it for you but I couldn't begin to get the words right and would just embarrass myself. If you can sing along I'd be very impressed. VERY impressed. Go ahead, I'll join in on the chorus . . .

11. Rocky Raccoon by John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1968. Written mostly by Paul and released on the White Album this is one of the funniest songs ever--we sing it around here quite a bit because it fits so well with Lillian's name:

Rocky Raccoon checked into his roomOnly to find Gideon's bibleRocky had come equipped with a gunTo shoot off the legs of his rivalHis rival it seems had broken his dreamsBy stealing the girl of his fancy.Her name was Magil and she called herself LilBut everyone knew her as Nancy.

Because if you can't laugh about blood-letting love triangles and drunk doctors what can you laugh at I ask?

12. One Week by Barenaked Ladies . Yes, it's been done to death in the commercials but the lyrics are just as snappy as they come and once you've got it down those words are in the brain for-ev-er.

Chickity china the chinese chicken you have a drumstick and your brain stops tickinWatchin x-files with no lights on, we're dans la maison I hope the smoking man's in this oneLike Harrison Ford I'm getting Frantic like Sting I'm tantricLike Snickers, guaranteed to satisfy like Kurasawa I make mad filmsOkay I dont make films but if I did they'd have a samuraiGonna get a set of better clubs gonna find the kind with tiny nubsJust so my irons aren't always flying off the back-swing . . .

Who says Shakespeare's cornered the market on creativity with the language? If this ain't poetry then I don't know what is. Well, maybe not quite poetry but darn fun to say.

13. We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel, 1989. Where else are you going to get a history lesson AND musical entertainment for the price of one? Wikipedia goes through each reference in the song and explains them--in case you were too young to remember that Russia was once Communist. Actually, that's funny because the other day my kids were asking what the U.S.S.R. was (I believe they were watching Rocky IV) and it took a minute to register in my brain that they didn't know about the Iron Curtain or Cold War. I had to stop and explain it all to them and I marveled in the moment while they shrugged their shoulders and went back to cheering for Rocky. My nostalgia didn't interest them apparently.

Honorable mentions: Mediate by INXS and Comin' into Los Angeles by Steppenwolf. Though I tend to make sure I'm alone when I'm singing this one ("Comin' into Los Angel-eez, bringing in a couple of keys . . . don't touch my bags if you please, Mr. Customs man . . .").

What a great mix of songs you've got there. I love Big Rock Candy Mountain and can sing that and accompany myself with the ukulele. It's on the soundtrack for 'Oh Brother Where Art Thou' which is a fabulous film.

.I loved this post so many memories love th BNL"S and I too know all the words to Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover by Paul Simon I had good friends Roy and Gus at the time so we sang it to them all the time

Now those are some amazing lyrics! Great songs, too. I just had The Music Man on last week while fixing breakfast, so Gary, Indiana is playing in my head now... with a very young Ron Howard singing it with a lisp. :)

The song I was thinking of this morning with odd lyrics, before I even read your post, was "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road".

A couple of weeks ago we had supper with an "elderly" couple and they entertained us in part by playing some old RECORDS - one being "Dead Skunk"...so that is what came to my mind when I saw a dead squirrel on the side of the road during my morning jog :)

I *love* this list! There are only like one or two that I don't know by heart, and now they're all stuck in my head, tyvm. Big Rock Candy Mountain is one of my favorite songs, I want to learn to play it on the guitar.

Okay I have to pipe in here and say really? To the Dead Skunk comments. My Dad used to sing "You gotcha dead ol' skunk in the middle of the road, you gotcha dead ol' skunk in the middle of the road. [pause] And what's he doing? Stinkin' to high heaven!"

I always thought the man was looney and/or poorly trained in putting together song lyrics. I had no idea it was a real song.

@Michelle—My mom used to sing it, too, and was adamant that it was a real song. I didn't believe her until I actually heard it on the radio. And yes, as far as I know, those ARE the words (I know that "stinkin' to high heaven" is in the song.)

But don't forget "Come Together"! I know all the lines to that song, but I will NEVER get them in order. Here come old flat top.

Fantastic! These songs take me back! I LOVE Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire!". It came out when I was in high school...and I listened to it over and over again until I could write the words out in my journal. The video was cool too...back when MTV still played videos - remember?

I'm chuckling because, as I was reading your post, I kept coming up with songs..."Rapture!" then I'd scroll down and there it was... then I thought "We Didn't Start the Fire!" and, lo and behold, you have that one, too! I'm all out! LOL

I was just reading another Alaska blog which mentioned the song Southern Cross. It is about a young Kodiak family's sailing journey from Alaska to Australia (wiht a one year old onboard!). It's called SailboatPelagic on blogspot. I think I got the name correct. The blogger said he thought of that song as they got ever more South on their trip. Nancy in Palmer

The sad thing here is, that now they play some of those great songs in the grocery store. Then you find yourself singing (not humming) along. Your children, whose meter for coolness is completely different from yours, gasp, mumble, and attempt to leave the aisle you are in, thus avoiding any shame. Sigh. My coolness meter has hit an all time low.

I actually had to look up the "I am the Walrus" lyrics because although I "know" this song, I thought you were joking about the actual lyrics. In my head, the words always made much more sense. Perhaps the only time in the history of song lyrics that my mistakes made MORE sense than the originals...

My Dad plays guitar and sings and the Dead Skunk in the middle of the road song was one he sang whenever we passed anything smelly when we were on a drive.Some of my childhood favorites are Magneto and Titanium Man by Paul McCartney and the Wings (we still sing it at family gatherings sometimes) Smackwater Jack by Carole King, OblaDiOblaDa by the Beatles...Jason Mraz is very clever with song lyrics, although some of his music is not very suitable so we pick and choose songs to download.

The End of the World as We Know It reminds me of walking through Madrid late at night with several fellow youth hostellers. One guy was a little inebriated and he was singing (shouting) that song into the night. I did feel like the end of the world as I knew it.

Also, John Lithgow sings The Codfish Ball on his Singin in the Bathtub CD. My kids love it.

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds andsnakes, an aeroplane and Lenny Bruce is not afraid.Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn - worldserves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs. Feedit off an aux speak, grunt, no, strength, the Ladderstart to clatter with fear fight down height. Wirein a fire, representing seven games, and a governmentfor hire at a combat site. Left of west and coming ina hurry with the furys breathing down your neck. Teamby team reporters baffled, trumped, tethered cropped.Look at that low playing. Fine, then. Uh oh,overflow, population, common food, but it'll do to Saveyourself, serve yourself. World serves its own needs,listen to your heart bleed dummy with the rapture andthe revered and the right, right. You vitriolic,patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling prettypsyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it.It's the end of the world as we know it.It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

FYI: Billy Joel singing We Didn't Start The Fire in concert was FABULOUS! (He can usually count on his band to help out with words, but when they produced that one, his guitarist said, "Don't even look at me for the words. You're on your own."

Speaking of The Smiths, and sitting here with my hair haphazardly pinned up in a butterfly clip, my favorite lyrics are from Morrissey's "Hairdresser on Fire."

Can you squeeze meInto an empty page of your diaryAnd psychologically save meI've got faith in youI sense the powerWithin the fingersWithin an hour the powerCould totally destroy me(Or, it could save my life)

I love the Southern Cross, and the Downeaster Alexa. I've always wanted to sail too. I've been a few times, enough to know what I'm doing. I'll let someone else build the boat though - I just want to sail it!

You had me singing along with each and every tune. Nice job. PS I missed seeing you in Anchorage over the weekend. I'll e-mail some observations from the blogging panel when I get a chance. Happy Spring, which seems to finally be here.

Oh, I forgot the best ones EVAR: Gilbert and Sullivan. Come on, you know you're the very model of a modern major general. And bonus points for using hypotenuse (double for making it rhyme!). This famous example is just one of dozens of great tongue twisty cleverness:

I am the very model of a modern Major-General, I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral, I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical; I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical, I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical, About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news, With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

I'm very good at integral and differential calculus; I know the scientific names of beings animalculous: In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, I am the very model of a modern Major-General.

I know our mythic history, King Arthur's and Sir Caradoc's; I answer hard acrostics, I've a pretty taste for paradox, I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus, In conics I can floor peculiarities parabolous; I can tell undoubted Raphaels from Gerard Dows and Zoffanies, I know the croaking chorus from The Frogs of Aristophanes! Then I can hum a fugue of which I've heard the music's din afore, And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore.

Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform, And tell you ev'ry detail of Caractacus' uniform: In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, I am the very model of a modern Major-General.

In fact, when I know what is meant by "mamelon" and "ravelin", When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle[*] from a javelin, When such affairs as sorties and surprises I'm more wary at, And when I know precisely what is meant by "commissariat", When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery, When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery— In short, when I've a smattering of elemental strategy— You'll say a better Major-General has never sat a-gee.

For my military knowledge, though I'm plucky and adventury, Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century; But still, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, I am the very model of a modern Major-General.